Pallone was prepping the .44-caliber Smith & Wesson for sale to an Allentown drug dealer known as "Low" when the shooting occurred in a friend's North Walnut Street apartment, she said. The gun belonged to her friend, Lloyd Peters, who was not home when the boy was shot.

The judge opted for an aggravated-range sentence because Pallone was on probation, planning an illegal gun sale and under the influence of drugs at the time of the shooting, Marks said. Anthony told Pallone she had a duty to protect her child and failed, she said.

Pallone was serving 12 months probation for a Carbon County offense when she shot her son.

At her plea hearing, Pallone said the night of the shooting she took pills for which she did not have a prescription. Marks said a blood test showed she had benzodiazepine, a drug often prescribed as a muscle relaxant, in her system.

Pallone had purchased drugs from Low in the past, but defense attorney John Baurkot said that was not her intention Oct. 6. She wanted to sell the gun for $200 to cover living expenses, he said at the plea hearing.

Pallone has said she remembers "bits and pieces" of what happened the night her son died. Court records say she called 911 after the shooting and told a dispatcher "there was a gun and it went off and hit my son on the forehead."